sunshine state roundball update: the draft
ski
Florida has been known to produce a prodigious amount of football talent but for the first time ever, four players from Florida schools will be drafted in the first round tonight (although much to Tommy’s chagrin none of these players will be from USF). For now we will conveniently overlook the question of whether or not Florida’s universities can maintain both high quality basketball AND football programs, and instead take a closer look at the players who will be drafted tonight.
Al Horford: The most underrated player from Florida’s Oh-Fours, Horford was the backbone of the Gators team. When Horford was injured at the beginning of the season the Gators struggled, including racking up a loss to FSU. Additionally, when the Gators needed a basket they got the ball down low to Horford and cleared out to let Horford beat his man one-on-one, which he almost always did. Horford has all the tools to be an all-star power forward along the lines of Carlos Boozer and Zach Randolph. Horford is almost certainly a lock to go third overall to Atlanta but will not drop beyond fifth.
Corey Brewer: The depth of this draft is in its forwards, with a special abundance of T-Mac/LeBron-style point forward hybrids. When we look back at this draft in five years we will be amazed at the number of quality small forwards it produced. Durant, Brewer, Jeff Green, Al Thornton, Julian Wright and Thaddeus Young all have the potential to be stars in the NBA, and with the exception of Young all these players have already proven themselves on the college level. The biggest knock on Brewer has been that he didn’t put up the best stats at Florida which can quickly be explained away by the fact that Brewer often deferred to his talented teammates. The best NBA comparison I’ve seen of Brewer is Shawn Marion, an all star who can do a little of everything while fitting into the team. Brewer could go fourth overall to Memphis and no lower than seventh to Minnesota.
Joakim Noah: My favorite player from the Oh Fours Noah has been the most polarizing player in college basketball, you either love him or hate him. Due to Noah’s personality and energetic style of play most sportswriters and talking heads considered Noah to be the Gators best player at the beginning of the season. Much like Paris Hilton, Noah’s constant pleas for attention have been rewarded by a sports media all to ready to sniff his jock. What most people overlooked is that it was often Horford, not Noah, that guarded the best bigman. That being written Noah has almost all the skills a team looks for in a big man, he can block, rebound and pass the ball. His offense needs to be improved (he has one of the ugliest shots in college basketball) but Noah will still go somewhere between fourth and ninth overall.
Al Thornton: The most overlooked player in Florida, Thornton is also the most sure thing of the above named players. The Florida Oh-Fours have had the benefit of playing with other extremely talented players while Thornton has been stuck on a lousy FSU team. Thornton’s coming out party was a year ago against an 8th ranked Duke team when Thornton single-handedly beat the Blue Devils with 37 points and 15 points. Thornton reminds me the most (and this may be blasphemy) of Kobe Bryant, a player who can launch his shot from anywhere on the court against any defender. Thornton could go as high as ten to Sacramento or as low as fifteen.
Taurean Green: EDSBS had the best description of the Gators point guard, as a random event generator. With Green you could never be sure what he would do, would he make an ankle breaking crossover drive to the basket or trip over his own feet and turn the ball over? Throw in Green’s height (only 6 feet) and the fourth Oh-Four is likely to be drafted early in the second round. He would probably go lower but the weak point guard class will lift his draft stock.
Tags: Florida, sports, tampa
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